It has a long historical tradition and is considered an obligatory rite of passage for males;[1] those who have not undergone the ritual are ridiculed and labeled supót by their peers.
It was also noted in Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala that other synonyms of tuli are catan (katan in modern Filipino orthography) and sonat which were from Arabic khitan and Malay sunat, respectively.
[5] More affluent parents opt to have their children circumcised as neonates in hospital, but the majority prefer that their sons undergo the tradition at around 8–12 years of age.
When the foreskin is removed, it is commonly known locally as a "German cut" in reference to the introduction of the modern surgical technique by the founder of plastic and reconstructive surgery, Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach.
[6] The Philippines Department of Health meanwhile sponsors an annual Operation Tuli project to circumcise boys; others assist and provide the service for free.
According to the World Health Organization: "In the Philippines, where circumcision is almost universal and typically occurs at age 10–14 years, a survey of boys found strong evidence of social determinants, with two thirds of boys choosing to be circumcised simply “to avoid being uncircumcised”, and 41% stating that it was “part of the tradition”[7] The rite has been the subject of the award-winning 2005 film Tuli by Auraeus Solito.